Toronto Raptors to hold part of pre-season training camp in Vancouver

TORONTO - Head coach Dwane Casey and the Toronto Raptors will head to Vancouver for a portion of their pre-season training camp the club announced on Wednesday.

The Raptors will open camp at Toronto's Air Canada Centre Sept. 29-Oct. 2 before departing for the West coast. The team also conducted its 2010 training camp in Vancouver.

"We look forward to returning to Vancouver and taking advantage of the great facilities at Fortius Sports & Health," said Casey. "As Canada's team we feel this trip will build on momentum gained from last season's playoff appearance and the launch of our We the North campaign."

The Raptors will hold practices Oct. 3 and Oct. 4 at Fortius Sport & Health in Burnaby, B.C. All practice sessions will be closed to the public.

It will be the seventh time the team has held a portion of camp outside of Ontario. In addition to Vancouver, the Raptors trained in Halifax in 2011 and 2012, Treviso and Rome, Italy and Madrid, Spain as part of NBA Europe Live in 2007, and Buffalo, N.Y., in 2000 and 2001.

The Raptors will open pre-season play in Vancouver as part of the NBA Canada Series. Toronto will face the Sacramento Kings at Rogers Arena on Oct. 5.

This will be the Raptors' second pre-season game in Vancouver. They downed the host Phoenix Suns, 129-78, on October 6, 2010 with 18,123 in attendance.